Marijuana Fatal Crashes Drivers Increasing in the US – Recently Released 2016 National Data Shows the Rise in Marijuana Fatal Crashes is now at 18.2%, up 9% since 2015’s level of 16.7%

There were 3,335 marijuana related U.S. driving fatalities in 2016.In the 8 recreational marijuana states, the percentage of marijuana positive drivers in fatal crashes is now at 24.2% and is almost as high as the 28.7% DUI alcohol fatal crashes.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 10, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ — The 8 recreational use states are AK, CA, CO, ME, MA, NV, OR and WA. This has occurred despite the full implementation of commercial marijuana sales in all recreational marijuana use states.

Further, since only 40% of drivers were tested for alcohol, and about 30% tested for drugs, the percentage of marijuana-positive and DUI alcohol is probably higher.

In marijuana-positive fatal crashes, 34% of the fatalities were other than the marijuana driver (passengers, pedestrians, other drivers, bicyclist) compared to 9% for DUI alcohol drivers. This may be due to marijuana fatal crashes more commonly occurring before and after normal work hours, as seen in the past years Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data.

The involvement of marijuana in fatal crashes was not noted in NHTSA’s recent summary of 2016 fatal crashes.